Known storage cases may be selectively converted for use as a support structure such as a table. One such case has been used in military applications and in particular as a chest to store equipment for use by medical personnel. The case is manufactured from metal and includes four relatively wide metal legs that attach to both a base portion of the case and a lid portion, which forms a support surface. These cases are typically rectangular and include front, back and sidewalls. When configured as a table, the base portion has an open interior cavity that can be accessed by reaching between the legs.
Such cases are relatively unstable, however, as the legs are secured through a passive bracketing system. This system employs substantially U-shaped brackets secured to exterior walls of the base and lid. The legs slide into the brackets and are held against the exterior walls of the case. The brackets are located on the sidewalls of the base and lid and on the back walls of the same. The brackets are passive in that they merely receive the legs and do not clamp or tighten down on them in any way. As will be appreciated, wear and tear on these cases during use can cause tolerances between the passive brackets and the legs to increase. Tolerance increases can, in turn, result in lateral movement of the lid relative to the base and instability of the support structure.
Additionally, known cases do not include any ancillary structural supports, such as cross members, that bridge and stabilize the legs and help support the weight of the relatively heavy metal lid. This lack of supplemental support further adds to the instability of the legs and impairs the efficacy of such cases in the field.
Moreover, the legs of known cases do not allow attachment of lids with varying depths. As will be appreciated, cases with larger capacities have lids and bases with deeper sidewalls. In known systems, different sets of legs are required for each size lid to keep the support surface of the lid at a height that is comfortable for use as a table or the like. This requires the manufacture, stocking and deployment of multiple legs depending on the capacity of the case and size of the lid.
The legs of these cases are also quite wide and spaced in a configuration that does not allow for easy access to an interior cavity of the base. As stated above, two of the legs are secured to the sidewalls of the case. More specifically, the legs are secured to a portion of the sidewalls that is proximate the front wall of the base. Given the width of the legs, access to the interior cavity of the base is partially obstructed. This can be problematic if the cases are deployed for field use by military medical personnel who need to quickly locate and extract equipment.
With the foregoing problems and concerns in mind, the general object of the present invention is to provide a leg assembly for a storage case, in particular a leg assembly that provides superior stability, allows for attachment of case lids of various sizes, and provides easy access to an interior cavity of a storage case base.